Cricket 1885

“ Together joined in cricket’s manly toil.”— Bijron. THURSDAY, MAY 21, 1885. ip r io e ad R O B E R T A B E L . T he conspicuous position occupied by the cheery litt\e cricketer, known familiarly to frequenters of the Oval as The Guv’nor, is a convincing proof of what can be accomplished by continu­ ous practice and perseverance. Few young professionals have, perhaps, in so short a time, won a deservedly high position under such difficulties, and with apparently such slight promise at the putset of their careers. Abel's in­ troduction into the Surrey eleven was indeed regarded by many practical players and capable critics, as any­ thing but a display of good judgment. There was, too, it must be admitted, much to be said in support of their views. Abel, who was born at Rother- hithe, on Nov. 30, 1859, had learned his cricket under far from favour­ able conditions. Most of his practice had been gained on Southwark Park, and on wickets calculated to frighten rather than inspire confidence in a batsman. In consequence, when he first came under the notice of the Surrey authorities his cricket was very crude. None the less the smartness he showed in the -field, and his evident anxiety to improve his play, afforded hopes that he would develop into a good, all­ round cricketer. How fully these hopes have been realised it only needs to point to the fact that he is now, after an apprenticeship of but four years, one of the most useful all-round players in the Surrey eleven. Abel’s connec­ tion with County cricket dates from the . season of 1881. Coming with favourable credentials from the South­ wark Park Club, he was attached to the ground staff at the Oval at the commencement of that summer. In those days, though only four years ago, it was not such an easy matter to collect the full,strength of Surrey as it happily is just now. Though they co-operated to the very best of their ability, several of the most promi­ nent amateurs were only able to help the county on special occasions. As a natural consequence the eleven was at times far from representative, and it was as an emergency to fill an unexpected vacancy that Abel originally secured a place in the Surrey team. His first appearance was at the Oval, against Notts, on July 21, 1881, with two other young profes­ sionals, whose efforts have not been attended with the same amount of success, Caffarey and F. Read (an elder brother of Maurice Read), Notts, owing to the strike of several of its most prominent professionals, was only poorly repre­ sented,and Abel’s introduction to Surrey cricket was so far fortunate that he was able to assist in the only victory the County eleven have been a to claim over Notts for many years. A single from the bat, and the capture of two Notts’ wickets for thirty-three runs, represented Abel’s achievements in his opening match for Surrey. His performances for 1881 were indeed, altogether, of a very moderate order, for while his five innings only realised an aggregate of seventeen runs the two wickets he got were obtained at a cost of fifty runs. Despite a lack of early promise, however, the authorities at the Oval, as before remarked, hopeful of his abilities, retained him regularly in the Courty eleven. It was some little time, too, before he quite repaid their confidence. Though smart in the field, neither his batting nor his bowl­ ing proved of great value during the course of the following season, and his one [noteworthy record with' the bat was a capital score of thirty-one out of a first total of 122, made against Notts, at Nottingham, early in the year. Other­ wise his figures were small, and his aver­ age in 1882 was lees than 7£ runs for 24 completed innings. The enlarge­ ment of the County programme the fol­ lowing summer gave Surrey cricketers increased opportunities for improving their play, and no one profited there­ from more tbanAbel. His improvement as a batsman was indeed extraordinary, and one season saw him advance with a bound from almost the bottom to nearly the top of the County averages. His first appearance on the Oval showed him to be in form, and his score of 83 against Hampshire was the forerunner of many really excellent innings for the County. His two other most noticeable scores were also made on the Surrey ground. In the return match with Kent he made 63 without a mistake, and while in with Mr. Roller he helped to put on as many as 182 runs for the eighth wicket of Surrey in the first innings. This display, though,‘ was hardly of such intrinsic merit as his sixty against Yorkshire a month before. The game seemed hopelessly lost when he joined Maurice Read in the second innings, and it was indeed solely